


#1: "Pull over, let me drive for awhile"

by Snowblaze



Series: 100 Ways to Say "I Love You" [1]
Category: The Good Doctor (TV 2017)
Genre: Cute car rides because an airport is stupid and cancels a flight, F/M, I wonder how long Neil was staring at Claire before realizing she was tired amidst her beauty, Maybe longer, Neil and I both agree, Park knows all, Probably a half hour or so, Sleepy Claire is adorable Claire, adorableness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-23
Updated: 2018-04-23
Packaged: 2019-04-26 19:57:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14409489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Snowblaze/pseuds/Snowblaze
Summary: There's a surgical conference in Raleigh, North Carolina that some of the Saint Bonaventure surgical staff was assigned to go to.With a terrible weather season going on in their layover area, their second flight is cancelled and the only option to get to the East coast is to take  rental cars on a 14-hour drive.Morgan goes with Dr. Lim and Dr. Andrews, leaving Neil Melendez with the remaining parts of his team of residents. Claire, having ingested more caffeine, volunteers to drive.But when it's past midnight, almost everyone is asleep, and Claire is barely staying awake, what happens?





	#1: "Pull over, let me drive for awhile"

“Pull over. Let me drive for awhile.”  
Claire’s tired yet surprised eyes flitted over to Neil from her position in the driver's seat of the car. The dim radiance of the highway lights shone through the windows, bathing him in a warm and intoxicating orange glow that made her already-poor focus crack even more. Turning her attention back to the road, she kept driving, ignoring his suggestion.  
“I'm fine. It's only a few more hours,” Claire retorted as she clenched her fingers tighter around the steering wheel, trying to keep herself awake. She had already drank 3 coffees and a 5 Hour Energy, but the caffeine high had burnt out and now she was running off of reserves she had built out of experience in her time as a surgical resident. Their next rest stop wouldn't be for another hour. She could last that long, right?  
“You've been driving since we left St. Louis. We won't get to Raleigh for at least 3 hours. You look like you're about to pass out,” Neil argued with a persuasive and soothing tone. He wasn't wrong. If she wasn't driving right now, making her responsible for the lives of everyone in this vehicle, she would have dozed off in the back seat approximately 2 hours ago.  
“Think you can drive the rest of the way?” Claire asked, putting on the turn signal and beginning to switch lanes as she got ready to pull off to the side. A soft laugh came in response to her facetious inquiry and answered her question. When she pulled the car over, she removed her hands from the steering wheel and winced. As her phalanges were locked in a rigid position from driving for 10 straight hours, Claire reluctantly took to massaging the tension out of her joints as she got ready to switch seats.  
When she finally managed to release her stiff fingers from their cramped captivity and unbuckle her seatbelt, her car door swung open with Neil at the handle. She gave him a small smile as a sign of her immeasurable gratitude and then walked numbly to the other side of the car.  
Claire involuntarily looked up as she opened the car door, noticing that Neil hadn't gotten in the car and prepared to drive as she had expected him too. Rather, he had somewhat followed her over to her new seating arrangement.  
“What're you doing?” Claire questioned her attending, her words slurring together in her fatigue. Neil just responded with a chuckle once again before resting his hand on her open door.  
“Get in.” He instructed, and Claire obeyed without much thought, sliding into the car seat. Neil's flannel blanket lay on the floor in a crumpled heap in front of her seat, tossed there by Alex when he falsely claimed he would read the whole way instead of sleep. Almost instinctively, he grabbed the blanket and pulled it over Claire, who reflexively clenched it tight. Pulling himself up, Neil closed the car door silently and jogged back over to the driver's side door. He hopped onto the seat and turned the car back on, trying to stay as quiet as possible so Claire could rest. When he glanced into the rearview mirror, though, Claire was already asleep, arms crossed under her head as she rested them on the door. Some of her umber curls had shifted and now draped over her face, the ringlets bouncing a little whenever she let out one of her barely-audible snores.  
The next few hours were mainly silent ones, Shaun only stirring once before hastily falling back asleep and Alex waking up but spending the time reading. There were some bits of conversation, but not much. There was a comment about Claire seeming really comfortable in Neil's blanket, but Alex switched to conveying his humor in a smirk when he got an unamused glare from his attending. Shaun awoke when they got into Durham, but by then the hotel was just 30 minutes away. He spent the rest of the ride listening to music and observing the scenery outside the car window.  
Claire, though, slept the rest of the ride through.


End file.
